Years ago I was living with roommates, and while working in the kitchen I noticed that the fluorescent light over the sink was about 8 inches long. A light went on in my brain because I'd always wondered what would happen if a fluorescent tube was placed in a microwave oven. In theory the RF energy should have enough voltage to ignite the mercury vapor into a plasma, and the lamp should light. But standard ovens put out at least 500 watts, so the tiny fluorescent tube should light quite brightly, to say the least. I'd never before encountered a fluorescent tube which was short enough to fit in an oven. So, I pulled out the tube, stuck it in the oven, said "THEY'RE HEEEEEERE!" , and punched the ON switch. Sure enough, the kitchen was lit up by a blue-white blaze of light coming from the front of the microwave oven. I only let it run for about 1 second, but this was enough to heat the fluorescent tube so it was too hot to touch.

(Yeah yeah yeah, I know I'm reeeeeally old, and most young whippersnappers never saw all the ads for the movie "Poltergeist," where the young daughter looks at the screen of the misbehaving TV set and says "they're here." )

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